Property tax returns start to add up and it's still early

By Mary Lou Pickel

The Atlanta Journal-Constitution

Thousands of metro Atlanta property owners have challenged their property tax valuations with local officials this year.

A record number of people are filing a little-known document called a tax return with their property appraiser's office, asking for a lower value on their appraisal, and thereby, a break on their property taxes.

The filing period opened in January and already Gwinnett County has received more than 3,400 residential and commercial tax returns, said Steve Pruitt, the county's chief appraiser.  He expects a total of 15,000 to 20,000 and said he's hiring data workers to process all of the returns.

As the recession drives housing prices down, more and more residents believe their property values are out of whack and should be lower.

DeKalb and Fulton counties have received about 1,000 property tax returns so far this year, according to their chief appraisers. Cobb County has received about 600. Clayton County's appraiser couldn't put a number on it, but predicts the county will get "a lot."

Tax assessors do not change a high percentage of values in response to tax returns, but the process opens up the opportunity for a property owner to then file an appeal if they don't like it.

Pruitt expects that 5 percent to 8 percent of tax return filers will go to the next step and file an appeal in Gwinnett.

Last year Gwinnett had 6,400 residential appeals. This year, even without passage of a proposed bill in the Legislature that would make property appeals easier, Pruitt  estimates he'll get 7,500.

"My staff is going to be very busy," Pruitt said. "This is going to be an interesting year."

The deadline for filing tax returns in Gwinnett and DeKalb counties is March 1. In Cobb, Fulton and Clayton counties the deadline is April 1.